“What has become of the Democratic Party?" Cruz said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “When did they become so extreme that they would go after nuns?”

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Cruz’s comments came ahead of a Senate vote on Democratic legislation that would require for-profit companies to offer birth control coverage in staff health plans.

Democrats moved the legislation as a response to last month’s Supreme Court ruling rejecting the healthcare law’s mandate that employers include coverage for birth control in their employee health plans.

“The bill being offered on the floor would shut these nuns down … fine them millions of dollars unless these Catholic nuns are willing to pay for abortion inducing drugs for others,” Cruz said. “Senate Democrats should not wage war on the Catholic Church.”

Murray, a lead author of the bill, is a devout Catholic. Doctors also contradict that most forms of contraceptives induce abortions. Instead, they prevent pregnancy from occurring.